Dante

Dante is the main protagonist of the Devil May Cry series. He is the second son of the demon Sparda and the human Eva, and the younger twin brother of Vergil. Dante is a paranormal mercenary, private investigator, and vigilante Devil Hunter dedicated to exterminating evil demons and other malevolent supernatural forces; a mission he follows in pursuit of those that killed his mother and corrupted his brother.

Description
Devil May Cry started development as Resident Evil 4, so Dante has a strong resemblance to Leon S. Kennedy. Like his father and brother, Dante has white hair. It remains in a fairly consistent style throughout his appearances, although there are a few minor changes. In Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 his hair is somewhat parted with his bangs brushed down; in Devil May Cry 3 his hair is simply brushed down, and in Devil May Cry 2 his hair is parted with his bangs in front of his right eye. Dante's most obvious design trait is his affinity for red-colored apparel, in the form of a long, two tailed coat. In Devil May Cry 3, the coat had zippers on the sleeves and a buckle around the waist, but after Dante's first battle with Vergil, the right sleeve is damaged and Dante tears it off. In the first game and the anime, the coat seems to be fairly plain with an upturned collar and short sleeves with black cuffs, though the coat lacks coattails. In Devil May Cry 4, the coat is given a much more detailed and stylish look, with western and Italian accents. Finally, in Devil May Cry 2, the coat has a more pronounced buckled collar and a black chestplate of sorts resembling a vampire hunter's coat.

Personality
Earlier in the series' story, Dante is incredibly flippant, casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of demons, and he generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way. He does mature as time goes by, but never really loses his attitude. Dante is sometimes presented as a show off as, on several occasions, he performs exaggerated and over-the-top moves. Dante is seemingly unflappable, not showing fear whether he's being attacked by the Seven Hells in his office or being swallowed by a giant serpentess demon. With the exception of Devil May Cry 2, Dante rarely shows any seriousness. He can be serious when the situation calls for it, but he still maintains a fairly laid-back demeanor during such situations and is never without a witty taunt or comeback. Dante can seem at times to be uncaring or even callous, but actually has a very strong sense of justice and prefers to fight fairly. He can be counted on to do the right thing, even if he makes cynical quips about it the entire time. Unusually, while he has issues with his own demonic side, Dante has little qualms about accepting demons who choose the side of good, such as Trish and Bradley. Though Dante is quoted as believing that "Humans are often worse than demons" in the anime, he refuses to kill full-blooded humans for any reason. Dante values family and friends very highly. He cared deeply for his mother and, despite their differences, he also cared for Vergil. Even after all the fighting the two did over the course of Devil May Cry 3, Dante still tries to save Vergil from falling into the Demon World, and goes so far as to cry over losing him.

Dante also enjoys fighting, shown when he sometimes doesn't fight at his full potential so he can toy with his opponent or make a fight last longer. In the anime, Dante gets bored with fighting weak opponents and finds entertainment in fighting strong opponents who will give him a challenge. Dante's enjoyment of fighting was reflected in his dialogue with Echidna during which he asked her if she agreed with him that a fight every now and then makes life more interesting.

In the animated series, Dante was shown to be one of the few characters in the Devil May Cry series to swear. Dante was frequently shown to be foul-mouthed, repeatedly swearing in almost every episode.

Despite verbally complaining about being in debt, Dante seems quite willing to perform missions solely for the good of them, and rarely enforces payment from poor clients. In fact, Dante will typically refuse any job he dislikes, regardless of how much it pays, but will immediately take on any paranormal cases, especially those involving demon hunting, with or without pay. Many of his clients take advantage of this good nature of his, and leave bills for property damage caused during the mission instead of paying for his services. He often borrows from Lady or gambles to repay these debts. However, he has extremely bad luck with all forms of gambling (Dante even has bad luck with a simple coin toss), and loses any game not involved with demon hunting. As a result he is horribly in debt to Lady, and is often left with no money at all after she takes her cut. However, in Devil May Cry 4 Lady actually pays him a small amount for his "assistance", implying that he no longer owes her money. Dante has a fondness for pizza, and while he complains about olives, he always ends up with them on his pizza. His liking for pizza was added because the director believes that pizza is the "best food ever". In the animated series, he is also shown to favor strawberry sundaes as well as pizza with it being pointed out on several occasions that those two foods are all he eats. He has a habit of getting roaring drunk; in the first volume of the manga, he mentions getting so drunk that he proposed to a mop.

Early life
Sometime before their eighth birthday, Eva gave Dante and Vergil each a half of the Perfect Amulet. Eventually, Sparda died, and Eva and the twins were left alone. When Dante was eight years old, he and his family were attacked by demons. Eva was killed, and though both Vergil and Dante survived, the twins were separated, and Dante believed Vergil to have died. At some point after this, Dante met Enzo and began a demon-hunting business under the alias Anthony "Tony" Redgrave.

Devil May Cry 3 manga


Dante is first seen eating a pizza after having showered. Enzo enters Dante's unnamed shop and announces he has a job for Dante. Dante goes to Enzo's room at a brothel to learn more. After defeating some demons with only his handguns, he picks up a leaflet offering a four million dollar reward for the return of a missing girl named Alice. Although initially reluctant to accept the job, Dante does eventually agree to do it for the money, and heads out to find the girl.

Dante goes to a castle infested with demons. After going through a few fights, he finds out that Alice had run away with a demon, the White Rabbit, who has possessed her rabbit doll. After a heated discussion between Dante, "Rabi", and the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit tells Dante that Alice has purity, a trait only valued by demons, and she is willing to sacrifice it for all the fleeting things humans value. After he strips Alice of her purity, the White Rabbit transforms her into what humans consider beautiful. Alice starts to flirt with Dante, but he refuses her advances, angering Alice and provoking her to change into a demon and attack. In response, Dante transforms into his Majin Form, which he uses to overpower and defeat her without harming her.

The White Rabbit tells Dante that he was the one who gave Dante the job, a fact which annoys Dante. When Dante asks why he did all this, Rabi states that he simply wanted to see "the legendary son of Sparda" in action. Having witnessed what Dante is capable of, the White Rabbit informs Dante that he has already paid the reward. Just before Dante leaves, the White Rabbit offers to buy his half of the perfect amulet, which Dante declines.

Later, Dante goes back to his shop and finds Alice there waiting for him. She manages to steal his amulet when he puts it down to take a shower, having thought he scared her off. When she escapes, Dante follows her, and finds a map with directions on it. Dante follows the directions to a church, where the Mad Hatter tries to trick Dante into giving a name to an ancient demon whose name was stripped from it by Sparda. Dante refuses, but then Vergil appears and names the demon, anyway.

Dante is initially relieved to find his older twin still alive, but it soon becomes apparent that they have different goals in mind, and that each stands in the other's way. Dante's half of the Perfect Amulet is dropped between them, and they begin to fight over it. Vergil, armed with Yamato, wins initially and takes possession of the amulet, but gives it back at Dante's demand. The twins part ways again.

Devil May Cry 3
The game starts with Dante sitting in his yet-to-be-named shop. Arkham comes to the shop and gives Dante an "invitation" to the Temen-ni-gru on behalf of his brother Vergil; as soon as he leaves, Dante is attacked by a swarm of hell jailers. Dante effortlessly kills them all, and heads to the tower in search of an "interesting time". Meanwhile, Vergil speaks to Arkham about his plan to reopen the portal to the demon world and obtain his father's power, in the form of the Force Edge sword that lies there. Within the tower, Dante encounters and defeats the demonic gatekeepers who were sealed away by his father, as well as the demon hunter Lady, who is in pursuit of her father Arkham, and the demon Jester, who guides him through the tower for his own reasons. Upon defeating most of these demons, Dante acquires their souls in the form of new weapons and combat styles. Dante, Lady, and Vergil eventually discover that Arkham is Jester, and was using all of them in order to open the portal and acquire the Force Edge for himself, using it as a means to gain Sparda's power and become a god. After defeating Arkham in the Demon World, Vergil and Dante duel for the ownership of the Force Edge. In the end of the battle, Dante claims ownership of the Force Edge, while Vergil chooses to remain in the Netherworld.

Dante matures considerably as a result of his ordeal, and inspired by Lady's courage and commitment to her own family, he continues his demon hunting business with a greater sense of purpose. They become partners and he decides to call his shop "Devil May Cry", in reference to what Lady said to comfort him over the loss of his brother Vergil:

"'Maybe somewhere out there even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don’t you think?'"

Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry begins with Dante being attacked in his office by a mysterious woman named Trish. He impresses her by easily brushing off her assault, and tells her that he hunts demons in pursuit of those who killed his mother and brother. She says the attack was a test and that the demon emperor Mundus is planning a return at Mallet Island. She takes him to the castle there, but abruptly disappears.

Dante explores the castle, slaying minor demons and finding weapons, and encounters the spider-like demon Phantom, while looking for a way to proceed through the castle. Dante wins the battle, but Phantom soon reappears and chases him through the halls of the castle. After further exploration and combat, Dante battles a demon named Nelo Angelo who impresses Dante with his confidence. The demon pins Dante to a nearby wall, but suddenly flees upon seeing the half-amulet Dante wears. The demon attacks twice more in later missions, and is eventually revealed to be Vergil, killed and manipulated by Mundus. After Nelo Angelo's final defeat, his half of the amulet joins with Dante's half-amulet, transforming the Force Edge into its true form, the Sparda.

When Dante next meets Trish, she betrays him and reveals that she is also working for Mundus. She lures Dante into a final fight with the bio-weapon Nightmare, but Dante manages to kill the monster. In the resulting chaos, the room collapses, and Trish is almost crushed. Dante saves her, claiming it was solely because of her resemblance to his mother. Furious because of her betrayal, Dante warns her to stay away from him. Yet when he finally confronts Mundus, who is about to kill Trish, Dante chooses again to save her but is injured. Mundus tries to finish him off, but Trish takes the attack instead. Dante's emotion at this tragedy unleashes his full power, allowing him to take on the form of his father. Afterwards, Dante and Mundus battle on another plane of existence with Dante victorious.

Dante leaves the Perfect Amulet and Sparda sword with Trish's immobile body before departing. However, just as Dante reaches the castle's hangar, Mundus, who is now back to his regular strength, returns and corners Dante. However, Trish also returns and lends Dante her power. Dante is able to defeat Mundus by sealing him away again. When Trish tries to apologize, she begins to cry. Dante tells her that it means she has become human and not just a devil, because "devils never cry". Dante and Trish narrowly escape on a plane as the island collapses. After the credits, it is revealed that Dante and Trish are working together as partners and have renamed the shop to "Devil Never Cry".

Devil May Cry: The Animated Series
Unlike the games, the animated series focuses on Dante's "normal" missions, and his day-to-day life.

On a regular day in the office, Dante is hired to transport a young girl named Patty Lowell to her father's house to receive her inheritance. However, she is revealed to have been a decoy for the true heir, and takes to living with Dante until her mother is found. Other recurring characters include Lady, Trish, Morrison (Dante's liaison, much like Enzo), and Sid, a lesser demon who is later revealed to be the true antagonist. Throughout the series, Dante would be pestered by Lady and Trish for his debts to them while Dante also interacted with Baul & Modeus, former apprentices of his father and would do odd jobs with Lady such as taking down a motorcycle demon, in which she "deducted from his debt" rather then paying him his share, and she helped him lure out a gambling demon in which Dante was shot near the heart by Lady after he was put under a magic spell. Dante would also do jobs to help normal humans, like when he helped free an innocent man who was guilty for accidently helping a demon kill his friend. Also in this series Dante met Ernest who mistook Dante for Tony, a childhood friend of his who resembled Dante. At the end of the series, Dante accidently angered Patty when he asked "Didn't your parent's teach you to respect your elders?" forgetting she was an orphan. Shortly thereafter, Dante met Patty's mother who had him protect an amulet that, at the time was nothing more then a family herloom but was discovered to be a piece of a ritual that sealed away Abigail, who along with Sid attacked Dante and captured him in the demon world. Dante was eventually saved by Patty, and proceeded to defeat Abigail and kill Sid. After this, Patty moved out of Devil May Cry, and Dante,Trish,Lady and Morrison went out of the city for a misson and Patty made visits to clean his shop.

Devil May Cry 4
Everything was set into motion when Lady came to Dante's office, offering a job. She told him about the Order of the Sword—a small congregation in the castle town of Fortuna, which worships Sparda—much to Dante's surprise.

"Dante: 'They worship a demon as a god?'" She explained that there is a legend of Sparda in that he served as a feudal lord at the city a long time ago. She also said that although peaceful worship can't be condemned, the Order's members recently started catching demons and collecting Devil Arms, interfering with her work. Trish, who was present and heard all this, departed with the Sparda sword, leaving a "see you there" message written in lipstick on the wall. There was nothing for Dante to do but to go to Fortuna after her.

Later it is revealed that the Order's increased activity was because of The Savior — a giant artificial demon created by the Order, which is only controllable with Sparda's blood and sword. They started creating smaller copies of the true Hell Gate, which they powered with the gathered Devil Arms. These were needed to harvest demons in order to power The Savior, as well as to lure Dante to Fortuna. It seems that Dante became aware of their plan, most likely through Trish, who disguised herself as Gloria and handed over the Sparda sword to infiltrate the Order. After watching Nero defeat a group of Scarecrows from the rooftops, Dante makes his entrance in Fortuna through the roof of the Opera House during the Festival of the Blade, executing the town's vicar, Sanctus, and slaying several Holy Knights who try to subdue him. Nero, one of the Holy Knights, enraged that his love-interest Kyrie has been endangered, interrupts Dante and keeps him busy until Kyrie and her brother Credo can escape. After a brief fight with Nero, Dante reveals to him that the slain knights were actually demons, and leaves with a cryptic message to Nero, claiming that "We’re the same...you and...I...and them [the fallen knights]. Though I suspect you carry something different from the others".

He then leaves Nero and heads for Fortuna Castle. On Credo's orders, Nero follows Dante, catching up to him at the entrance to Mitis Forest. However, Dante escapes by falling from the cliff into the forest. Nero finally confronts Dante within the Order's headquarters, but Nero no longer seeks to capture Dante because he has been betrayed by the Order. However, Dante challenges him for his brother's sword, Yamato, which Nero now possesses. After an intense battle, Nero at last gets the upper hand, but then Dante easily knocks Nero down, making Nero realize that Dante has been playing with him from the beginning. Dante explains that Yamato is the key to the Demon World, but allows Nero to continue using the sword because Nero needs it to rescue Kyrie.

However, Nero is absorbed by the Order's partly awakened The Savior, which is controlled by the revived Sanctus. Credo is mortally wounded trying to stop Sanctus, and the Yamato is taken by the Order's scientist, Agnus, to open the true Hell Gate in Fortuna. At the dying Credo's request, Dante follows The Savior back to town to rescue Nero and Kyrie after sending Trish to help the citizens escape to safety. Along the way, he kills Echidna, Dagon, and Berial, destroys the three fake Hell Gates they had emerged from, and obtains the Devil Arms that had powered the gates. Once he returns to the Opera House where this all began, he finds Agnus. The two fight, ending with Dante killing Agnus. Dante recovers the Yamato, closes the Hell Gate, and destroys it.

This catches the attention of Sanctus, who attempts to kill Dante using The Savior. However, Dante is able to weaken The Savior enough that he can reawaken Nero by returning the Yamato to him. Dante continues to distract The Savior while Nero tracks down Sanctus and slays him. Nero succeeds and breaks free of The Savior with Kyrie and the Sparda in his hands. However, before Dante could drag away an apology from Nero, The Savior reawakens as The False Savior, a much weakened version created by the weapon's merge with Sanctus. Nero hands Dante the Sparda, and attacks the atrocity with his Devil Bringer, destroying it.When the battle is finally over, Nero thanks Dante for his help. Afterwards, he attempts to return the Yamato to Dante, but tells him to keep it.

"Nero: 'What…? I thought this meant a lot to you...?' Dante: 'That’s the only kind of gift worth giving. I want to entrust it to you, and so I am. What you do from here is your call.'"

Nero asks if he will meet Dante again, but Dante leaves only with a simple wave.

After Dante returns to his shop, Lady enters and thanks Dante and Trish for helping her by eliminating the Order. She hands them the case with their payment, but it is revealed to contain only a few banknotes. Against Trish's protests, Lady claims that it was her fault that the situation got out of hand. Dante calms them down by commenting: "We take what we can get, right?". Suddenly, the phone rings, and Trish informs Dante that it is a customer with the password and is in the vicinity. Trish and Lady decide to come with Dante on this mission, and the scene ends.

Devil May Cry 2 novel
The second Devil May Cry novel, this story takes place immediately before the second game. Unlike Devil May Cry 2, Dante retains his talkative, carefree personality from all of the other games and is allied with a woman named Beryl, who is similar to Lady and wields a Spiral-like rifle.

While hunting down the Beastheads statue, Dante is cast into an alternate dimension where Nelo Angelo and the other demons that appeared on Mallet Island instead rebelled against Mundus. Dante helps slay Mundus for them, then returns to his own world, where he destroys the Beastheads.

Devil May Cry 2
Dante aids the character Lucia in defeating Arius, an international businessman who uses demonic power and seeks to conquer the world by attaining the power of Argosax the Chaos. At the end of the game, Dante must go into the Demon World to stop a powerful demon from escaping, but the gate closes behind him and he is trapped. With no way back to the human world, Dante heads even deeper into the demon world on his motorcycle. There is an extra scene after the credits, in which Lucia is sitting in Dante's office when she hears a motorcycle outside and rushes out to see who it is. Whether this is Dante or not is unknown.

Devil May Cry novel
The Devil May Cry novel was originally written to explain Dante's past, but with the release of Devil May Cry 3, major contradictions removed it from the continuity. It takes place immediately before the first game, with Dante going by the alias of Tony Redgrave. He has numerous encounters with a man named Gilver, who hides his face with numerous bandages and wields a katana. In the end, the man is revealed to be Vergil before he became brainwashed by Mundus.

Devil May Cry comics
Three issues of a comic adaptation of the first game were published by Canadian publisher Dreamwave Productions in 2004, but was left unfinished when the company went bankrupt in 2005. Although the comic loosely follows the plot of the first Devil May Cry game, it has major contradictions with the game (like Nelo Angelo's ability to speak) and is thus considered non-canonical. The third issue ended with Dante being knocked out by Trish.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Dante survived the Conception and is hired by an unknown man to kill the protagonist, the Demi-fiend. He is a boss at first, and if defeated, he can later be recruited to the party in the entrance of the Fifth Kalpa in the Labyrinth Of Amala. His appearance is based on his artwork in Devil May Cry 2.

Viewtiful Joe
Dante is a playable character in the PS2 version of the game and he must save Trish. He later appears in the PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble as a bonus character, in where he lends his biplane, Karnival, to Captain Blue for a scene in one of his movies and he and the player race to defeat the boss of the stage.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Dante is a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in his Devil May Cry 3 outfit. He is first seen in a trailer facing off against Deadpool, his rival in the game. In his ending, he prepares to square off against Ghost Rider.

In the updated re-release, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Dante receives a new ending where he is approached by Mephisto to take out his son, Blackheart. He also appears in Ghost Rider's ending where he, Ghost Rider, and Trish threaten Mephisto's life, forcing him to undo a contract.

Other

 * Dante is a character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter DS.
 * Dante makes a cameo in Jedah Dohma's ending in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
 * Dante appears in the multi-crossover game Project X Zone alongside Lady, appearing as he did in the anime (DMC1 while using Rebellion)

Character Development
After the success of the first game, Capcom immediately began development of its sequel, Devil May Cry 2. Hideki Kamiya, who directed the first game, was not involved in the sequel's development and the new creative team took a different direction. Dante's character was changed so that he spoke little, and his cocky attitude was largely absent. He also had a habit of flipping a coin to make his decisions. The third game, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, serves as a prequel to the first game and features a younger and cockier Dante. While developed by the same team that created Devil May Cry 2, Devil May Cry 3 was much better received than the previous installment for staying true to the original. Dante has considerably more dialogue during cutscenes, and players can verbally taunt monsters during gameplay.

Weapons
Dante's trademark weapons are the Rebellion, the Sparda, and Ebony & Ivory. He has also used a shotgun in every title in the series, though its exact form changes throughout the games. Over the course of the past four games, Dante has collected a wide variety of weapons in addition to his regular arsenal, ranging from a curious electric guitar and several pairs of gauntlets/greaves to twin submachine guns and a shape-changing, demonic briefcase. He keeps many weapons and trophies displayed within his office, so it is likely that he keeps old weapons there as well.

Dante is an extremely adept combatant. He is incredibly proficient with any type of weapon, displaying near-mastery of them within moments of picking them up. He is also quite skilled in unarmed combat, managing to disarm and subdue Nero bare-handed in their second fight; his hand-to-hand combat skills are also displayed by his usage of gauntlet-style Devil Arms.

Dante's skill with firearms is impeccable. He has displayed enough accuracy to hit targets as small as the pommel of his sword; shoot his opponents' bullets out of mid-air; and hit the same target over and over with such unerring precision that his bullets stack on top of each other. Dante is also shown to have incredible hand-eye coordination; for example, he kicks the Neo-Generator into the statue above the bridge approximately 20 meters away from where he stands in Devil May Cry 3, and kicks the seed of Echidna the She-Viper back at her to get her attention in Devil May Cry 4.

Powers and abilities
Dante possesses extraordinary powers beyond that of any human being and most demons thanks to the blood of his father, The Dark Knight Sparda, running through his veins. Throughout the course of the series Dante has achieved victory over almost all of the powerful demons he's encountered, a notable example being in the anime, when Dante defeated Sid upon entering his Devil Trigger state who had gained the powers of the immensely powerful demon Abigail. It's implied that Dante's power surpasses that of even his father, a notable example being when Dante defeated Griffon for the final time the latter commented, "[Dante's] are definitely the powers of Sparda. No, even more so."

He has the strength to punch through and/or shatter stone with little difficulty, and often overpowers demons much larger than himself. In Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, Dante is seen snapping handcuffs and effortlessly overpowering human authorities as well as street thugs with his bare hands. Dante's display of superhuman strength indicates that his physical condition is much tougher than that of humans, allowing him to exert his enhanced muscle power to vast proportions without fear of injury or fatigue.

Dante is blindingly fast, able to dash a short distance to dodge attacks, dodge bullets fired at close-range, and move so fast that he appears to teleport. He is extremely agile as well; able to jump to great heights or even balance himself on a flying rocket, as well as run up vertical walls. In addition, his agility allows him to perform amazing feats of acrobatics that easily surpass even the finest human acrobat.

He is able to channel his power into various physical objects, ranging from his guns to the air itself. Dante can also hold his breath indefinitely, or perhaps even breathe underwater, as he can remain submerged for extended periods of time without taking damage or needing to surface for air. Additionally, Dante possesses great resistance to heat, as shown in Devil May Cry 4 when he casually sat on the flaming tail of Berial and came out with little more than a burnt coat. In the opening cutscene of the original Devil May Cry, he demonstrates telekinetic abilities, catching Trish's motorcycle in mid-flight before shooting it with Ebony and Ivory. He also appeared to show telekinectic abilities in the anime, shown when he splayed his hand and Rebellion smahed through the ceiling window before landing in his hand.

Dante can instantly heal from nearly any wound; even the Hell Prides were surprised when he ignored their attacks at the beginning of Devil May Cry 3. Dante's durability has been shown to allow him to simply shrug off wounds that would either disable or outright kill a normal Human, such as being impaled through the chest with his own sword (something that happens to him during almost every game and also happened in the anime), struck by opponents with superhuman strength (such as when he showed no discomfort when Nero repeatedly punched him in the face with Devil Bringer), or being shot point-blank in the head and stomach.

Dante rarely shows himself to struggle in battle and wins most of his fights with such ease it's af if he was merely toying with his opponent, however his brother Vergil did defeat him once, then again as Nelo Angelo. Nero apparently defeated him at the beginning of Devil May Cry 4, but Dante admitted the battle only ended the way it did because he underestimated Nero. In their second fight Dante soundly defeated Nero and made the latter realize he was being toyed with from the beginning.

In Devil May Cry 4, it is implied that Dante's strength is not just due to his father, but also from his will to protect others. It is suggested that any Demon who possesses the will to protect and love others rather than to simply destroy will gain the full might of their demonic power, though Dante, Vergil, and Nero may simply be exceptions due to possessing both human souls and demonic power.

Devil Trigger
Thanks to his half-demon nature, Dante can release his demonic power through his Devil Trigger. The appearance of this form varies throughout the games — in Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3, the form is influenced by which Devil Arm he carries, while in Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4 he has a pair of Devil Forms believed to be his "true" Devil form. These forms usually increase his strength and speed and give him slow regeneration, and sometimes grant him new abilities, like flying. These abilities could be chosen in Devil May Cry 2 by selecting the different pieces in the Amulet.

Devil May Cry 4
While the first encounter serves entirely tutorial purposes, the second fight is much harder, as you can't deal with him as with all previous bosses. It should be noted that, on higher difficulty modes, the battle in Mission 1 becomes just as difficult as the Mission 10 encounter.

Background
Dante's name comes from Dante Alighieri, who was a great Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, Divine Comedy, is often referenced or used as a background throughout Devil May Cry series.

Trivia

 * Traditionally, Dante's mixed lineage of a demon father and human mother would make him a Cambion, although a name is never given in the games, and is usually referred to as "half-demon."
 * Interestingly, Dante is impaled by his own sword in every installment (excluding the second game) by an opponent.
 * In Devil May Cry, Trish pins him to the floor with the Force Edge. He also gets stabbed by Alastor.
 * In Devil May Cry 3, Vergil stabs him with the Rebellion.
 * In the anime, Sid impales him through the heart on a cross.
 * In Devil May Cry 4, after hurling Dante into the Sparda statue, Nero spears him with the Rebellion.
 * Dante appears to have experience with instruments, especially those associated with rock bands, judging by his demonstration with the Devil Arm guitar Nevan. He also has a drum set (which is visible in every game) and a guitar in his office.
 * Dante can fly an airplane.
 * Dante can eat any kind of pizza, as long as it doesn't have any olives on it.
 * Dante can eat a large pizza in five minutes.


 * Ragna the Bloodedge, the main character from the fighting game series, BlazBlue, is often compared to Dante, due to their similar appearance and the nature of their powers. In the Blazblue Material Collection, a nod is made to this as a sketch of a shocked Ragna is holding the Rebellion, Dante's signature sword. Coincidentally, Rebellion is also the name of his theme song in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger OST. His gameplay style is even somewhat similar to Dante's MVC3 incarnation (rushdown, simple execution combos, long ranged normals, rushing attacks, diving attacks, crossups, launchers, and a power up state super), and both even have a button scheme of Light Medium Heavy in their rescpective fighters.
 * Dante on the cover of the Tokyo-Pop manga under his alias even resembles Ragna.
 * Aside from Ebony & Ivory, Rebellion, and the Shotgun, Dante never uses weapons or Devil Arms he acquired in a previous game in the next one. However, often he finds ones that function similar to his old weapons.
 * Dante has controlled time to some extent in every game of the series;
 * In the first installment he obtained the Bangle of Time.
 * In the second he can equip the Chrono Heart in his amulet.
 * In the third he gets the Quicksilver Style.
 * In the fourth he makes use of the Chrono Slicer and the Key of Cronus item.
 * Dante seems to favor Jack Daniel's, a brand of whiskey. He is seen drinking this in the anime and several bottles of it are scattered around his office in Devil May Cry 4's epilogue.
 * Dante may wear red because the color traditionally represents a heroic figure in Japanese culture, or it may represent Dante from the Divine Comedy, as the poet is most often depicted wearing a red robe.